Specifications:The Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM is designed to meet the needs of a wide range of advanced amateurs and professionals. A ten element optical formula with two UD-glass elements serves to correct residual aberrations, resulting in superb sharpness and high image quality. It is also able to obtain superior background blur with the f/2 wide aperture. The EF 135mm f/2L USM is fully compatible for AF with Extenders 1.4x and 2x. A stellar portrait and available light lens.

I bought this lens initially for basketball, but it's a bit too long on my 20D. However, it is incredible for just about everything else. F/2 is a huge asset for poorly lit speeches, etc. A great lens for sharpness, bokeh, everything I mentioned in pros. Go out and buy one if you're interested in a great lens!

Feb 12, 2006

terminatorOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Jan 28, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 281

Review Date: Feb 8, 2006

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $900.00
| Rating: 10

Pros:

SHARP!

Cons:

Canon needs better quality control!

Photos by this amazing lens state it all. So I will not repeat all the beautiful things about this lens again.

Just to tell my story about this lens. I bought it from Amazon, and found a receipt with a different name on it. It seemed to be a returned item. I throughly inspected the lens and did not find anything wrong. Then I cut out the UPC and sent it to Canon Rebate Center. After several days I heard from a friend that he found a big dust inside of his brand new Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens. Then I re-examined the lens under strong light and found two unpleasant marks inside of the front element. Both are about 3-4mm in the length. So I sent it to Canon Irvine for a repair. Two weeks after, I received the lens again. Guess what? I found a much longer mark this time - 15-20mm in the length! Fortunately it is not a scratch. It looks much like the mark after one cleans the glass with some wet fibre. It does not affect image quality as far as I can tell. However it is annoying to think of the fact that for $900 you get an imperfect piece of glass from Canon! I would fire the quality control employees if I am the manager in Canon.

Feb 8, 2006

LiquidpicsOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Jun 14, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 1107

Review Date: Feb 3, 2006

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10

Pros:

Sharp, Fast, Awesome Bokeh! Great performer in low light situations! The best portrait lens out there for a full frame camera!

Cons:

This lens really hooks you into the "gotta have" more fast L's phenomenom.

Feb 3, 2006

Al_10DOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Dec 7, 2004Location: United StatesPosts: 1868

Review Date: Jan 13, 2006

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $706.00
| Rating: 10

Pros:

Sharp wide open, excellent colors and bokeh.

Cons:

None

So far it is the best lens I ever owned.

Jan 13, 2006

Forrest EganOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Nov 22, 2004Location: United StatesPosts: 6297

Review Date: Jan 11, 2006

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10

Pros:

super sharp, excellent color and great bokeh

Cons:

none

This is clearly one of the best values in an 'L' lens; even better with the Canon triple-rebate.

Excellent portrait lens, even on a 1.6x crop.
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Jan 11, 2006

madmax200OfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Aug 15, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 1870

Review Date: Jan 10, 2006

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10

Pros:

The best

Cons:

small a/f switch, hood is a pain and too tight.

Wow is how I rate it. Extremely sharp with high contrast/saturation.

Jan 10, 2006

mngpsnutOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Jul 14, 2004Location: United StatesPosts: 77

Review Date: Jan 9, 2006

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $845.00
| Rating: 10

Pros:

Very clear, very smooth, very good in all aspects of this lens.

Cons:

DOF for indoor ice hockey is tough to calibrate when the light is low and your at f/2.0 you need a high shutter speed to catch the stop action and sometimes background is needed for clarity. But than again, Ice Hockey is the hardest sport to photgraph.

Sharpest L I own, and I also have the 200mm f/2.8L II! Outdoors this knocks the socks off anything you can put on a Canon camera in its range. Indoor sports like swimming, diving, gymnastics are a cinch to shoot. Did some outdoor grad photos with this lens and had great results.

Jan 9, 2006

jamato8OfflineImage Upload: On

Registered: Dec 23, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 2728

Review Date: Jan 8, 2006

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10

Pros:

Rivals anything I have seen for sharpness. The contrast and color is something I wish all lenses possessed. When you use this lens, if the image is not sharp you can not blame the lens! I also enjoy the feel of the lens. If this were a Leica lens and cost 13 or 14 hundred I would be happy. That I can get this in Canon is excellent.

Cons:

Not a real gripe, well a little, but the focus is noisier than any L lens I have used and the lens rattles if you shake it. This is not a problem if you realize the lens is made this way. I thought something was wrong with mine but after receiving feedback on my post asking for opinions on this, I found out that it is just the way the lens is made.

Jan 8, 2006

uz2workOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Mar 3, 2004Location: United StatesPosts: 11930

Review Date: Jan 5, 2006

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $890.00
| Rating: 10

Pros:

sharp image quality, f2, does wonderful things to blurred backgrounds

Cons:

none

While this focal length is not one that I do a lot of shooting at, I find myself looking for opportunities to use this length just because I find the image quality from the lens to be so pleasing.

Jan 5, 2006

minhster16OfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Dec 29, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 0

Review Date: Dec 29, 2005

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10

Pros:

razor sharp, excellent contrast, color, bokeh

Cons:

size is a bit large, especially when the hood is attached.

bought this lens based on the recommendation of many on this board, and I'm very impressed. Despite the long focal length on my 20d, I try to do all my portrait on this lens now b/c the clarity, contrast, colors are drastically different from any other lenses i own. The highly rated 85mm f1.8 pales in comparison to this lens.

Dec 29, 2005

carlsbadbumOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Jul 13, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 1986

Review Date: Dec 25, 2005

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10

Pros:

Sharp & Fast

Cons:

Best with IS

I can't add what is already said about this lens, so this is the best of the best in my L series collection.

Dec 25, 2005

gmcflyOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: May 9, 2003Location: BrazilPosts: 81

Review Date: Dec 20, 2005

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $870.00
| Rating: 10

Pros:

Sharp wide open.

Cons:

None.

Wide open on FF: no CA, very sharp and a hardly perceptible vignetting.
Nice build quality. Fast AF. Beautiful bokeh.

Dec 20, 2005

kuereOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Dec 18, 2005Location: SwitzerlandPosts: 0

Review Date: Dec 18, 2005

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: Not Indicated
| Rating: 10

Pros:

Sharp and nice colors

Cons:

It is a little heavy

I've bought this beauty on a business trip to Tokyo. What a nicxe experience first time installed on my new 5 D - sharp and nice color. Best buy for my 5D.

Dec 18, 2005

smacOfflineImage Upload: Off

Registered: Sep 28, 2004Location: United StatesPosts: 11

Review Date: Dec 10, 2005

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $799.00
| Rating: 10

Pros:

SHARP!!!

Cons:

This is the sharpest lens I have ever used, bar none. And I've used a lot! I shoot a lot of night int wide open and it is superlative beyond description.

Dec 10, 2005

tanglefoot47OfflineBuy and Sell: On

Registered: Oct 12, 2004Location: United StatesPosts: 14879

Review Date: Dec 5, 2005

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $900.00
| Rating: 10

Pros:

Sharp and fast focus, color and contrast

Cons:

None

All I can say is wow, I have read so much about this lens and how good it is. This lens blew me away the first time I used it in a dimly lit school gym. Cranked up my 20D to 1600 and got the best shots ever in these conditions

Dec 5, 2005

timpdxOfflineImage Upload: On

Registered: Feb 1, 2005Location: United StatesPosts: 1967

Review Date: Dec 5, 2005

Recommend? yes |
Price paid: $900.00
| Rating: 10

Pros:

Outstanding lens, use wide open in low light theatre, dance and concert photography on a 20D and the sharpness and color are wonderful